Will Manchester's police ever nail those damned anarchists? The Reclaim the Streets Six have all walked without so much as a slap on the wrist and remain free to roam the streets. The cases of the 6 charged with trumped-up public order offences following last year's RTS action in Manchester finally went to crown court in the last week of June. On day one the prosecution had to drop the case against one defendant admitting they had no evidence.

The prosecution opened their case with a pile of videos from the university CCTV network and a list of around 36 police officers. On the face of it, it looked like a simple matter of watching the films, identifying the culprits and sending them down. There were a few basic problems however. Firstly the videos showed a large number of violent and disorderly police officers as they baton-charged their way into a peaceful crowd without warning. Each cop in turn who was cross-examined, including two Superintendents, had their evidence all but swept away and stupid lies uncovered in the face of video evidence and their inability to identify one another or sometimes themselves on film. Some officers were required to give their evidence having been cautioned that they themselves might be charged with violent offences. A Superintendent's statement under oath that it had been impossible to communicate with the organisers was flatly contradicted by a defence witness who had attempted negotiations with him in person on the day. The fact that a number of officers were not displaying their numbers also came to light in evidence given by University workers.

The case for the prosecution done for, three more were allowed to go on the grounds that they had no case to answer. The two remaining argued separate cases of mistaken identity and legitimate self-defence. The jury took less than half an hour to reach their verdicts of not guilty in both cases.